Left in the Dark
by EmmaEllieJane
Summary: An innocent dreamwalk leaves Isabel on the brink of death and Liz traumatized as Max and the others realise the only way to save Isabel is for Max to heal the boy whose mind she is trapped in. Only problem is; where is he?


Hey everyone! This is my first non-charmed fanfic, so please review and tell me exactly what you think! I love constructive criticism, so feel free to ramble, and I try to reply to all reviews. I won't put the next chapter up unless I get at least one review, not being greedy, just smart. If no one reviews, that means no one likes it, so I should abandon the story, lol.

Chapter One.

Isabel Evans glanced at the clock on the wall yet again and sighed, realising there was still 15 minutes left of class. She cast her gaze around the room, watching the students with their heads down, hurriedly jotting down notes as Ms. Cranbury droned on from the front of the classroom. Isabel studied her nails and, secretly whilst no one was watching, changed the bright blue nail polish to a fire engine red. Still bored, she waved her hand slightly over the desk, revealing graffiti from long ago that had been scrubbed clean off the desk by the school janitor. The graffiti said 'I Heart Mason H.', which made Isabel look across the room at the star quarterback, Mason Henley, as he focused all his concentration on flicking spit balls at the back of Maria DeLuca's blonde head. Maria merely inhaled a small vial of some funky smelling herb, which she told Isabel relieved her stress. She didn't look very relieved to Isabel.

Mason was kind of cute. He had a good body, and nice eyes. And he was tall, something Isabel liked in a guy, being one of the tallest girls in the year herself, it was hard to find a guy with all the right qualities. Not that she would ever date Mason, he was too… up himself. Isabel liked to be the cocky one in the relationship.

'Not that I'm allowed to have a relationship', she thought bitterly to herself. Her brother Max Evans had made sure of that. He was convinced that if any of the aliens, which included Max, Isabel, and their friend Michael Guerin, tried to date anyone outside of their circle of confidence, which included Maria, who had a sort of thing for Michael, Liz Parker, who was Max's soul mate, and Alex Manes, the geeky, gangly friend of Liz and Maria, then they would surely be found out and carted of to be dissected like mice. As if Isabel would ever tell anyone else anyway, she wasn't the one who had told Maria, Liz and Alex in the first place. Max had been the one to reveal their secret to them, potentially placing them all in danger when he healed Liz after she was shot. Out of the three aliens, Isabel was the most cautious, her worst fear was that someone would take away her and her brother, and Michael, and hurt them, experiment on them. Isabel shuddered at the thought.

She glanced back at the clock and almost groaned at seeing there was still ten minutes left. She looked back at her nails and changed them to a deep purple, then back to red, trying to pass the time until she could go home and relax for the weekend.

Mason Henley smiled as the bell rang for the end of the school day and Maria DeLuca swiveled around to face him, her expression dark.

"Mason Henley, do you have any idea how much shampoo it's going to take to get these spit wads out of my hair?" She lifted a small glass vial to her nose and inhaled deeply.

Mason laughed and shrugged it off. "I was just mucking around, Maria. Don't be so uptight." He ducked as Maria swatted at him and walked down the row of desks. He felt a small arm loop through his and found Jessica Blake on the end of it.

"So, Mason, what are your plans for this weekend?" She batted her eyelashes ferociously, looked up at him with her big doe eyes. Mason never got tired of flirting with Jessica, but they could never be a couple like she wanted. She just wasn't dating material.

"Actually, I was thinking of turning up to Luke's party. You know, show my face, do the rounds, that sort of thing." Actually, Mason had no intention of showing up at Luke's, but he knew Jessica would think he was, so she would go, leaving him free to 'borrow' his older brother's I.D and hit the clubs.

"Well, maybe I will see you, then." She fluttered those lashes of hers again and disappeared into the crowded hallway. Mason watched her back as she walked off, then he turned down the hall and walked out the front doors into the afternoon sunshine.

"Mom! I'm home!" Isabel called, opening the front door and stepping inside the house.

"I'm in the kitchen, sweetie." Isabel's mother called.

Isabel stepped aside and let Liz come in after her, then shut the door behind them. She dropped her bag neatly onto the floor in the lounge room then walked into the kitchen, followed closely by Liz.

"Hey, mom. What are you making?" Isabel asked, gesturing to the glasses her mother had prepared for them.

"Juice. Let's see, this one has pineapple, mango and banana…" She said as she slid it towards Liz, who accepted it gratefully. "And this one has pineapple, mango, banana and Tabasco sauce." She said, handing that one to Isabel.

Isabel smiled, loving her adopted mother for adding the Tabasco, which was a dietary quirk among aliens, not that their mother knew they were aliens, of course.

"Where's your brother?"

"Outside, twiddling with the jeep. It was making a funny sound when we drove over here." Liz said, leaving out the part where Max was using his alien powers to fix it.

At that moment, Max came in, wiping his hands on a towel. He gestured to the other Tabasco glass.

"Is that for me?" At his mother's nod, Max took the glass and gulped it down, setting the empty glass back on the bench. Liz and Isabel exchanged amused looks.

"Umm, I have to go back to the jeep, so would you mind entertaining Liz for a bit, Is?" Max asked his sister. Isabel nodded, rolling her eyes.

"How long does it take to tighten a few bolts?" She murmured. Max ignored her and went back outside, whilst Liz and Isabel went up to her room.

Mason looked around the crowded floor, half dressed babes and overdressed men filled the bouncing nightclub. He could feel the drinks he had had making its way to his brain, and it felt good. He noticed a gorgeous girl sitting by herself at the bar and wandered over, sitting himself beside her.

"The name's Mason. And you are?"

The girl turned her head to look him up and down then, liking what she saw, swung around to face him, cocktail balanced in her hand.

"I'm Betty." She drawled, leaning back in her chair, her too short shirt revealing her bare midriff.

Mason gulped and leaned toward her, placing a hand on her thigh. "What's say we dance a little?"

Before she could respond a large hand grabbed him roughly from behind and spun him around. Mason found himself facing a man twice his size and build.

"Hey, that's my girl." Before Mason could protest, a fist landed squarely in his face, knocking him backwards. There were a few murmured gasps from the crowd as Mason crashed to the floor, bringing a couple of glasses with him. Mason felt his lip split open. He got up and stepped away, sobered up from the shock. The beefy guy stood there, glaring menacingly at him. Mason backed away and out the door, taking off down the street.

Isabel sighed as she looked at the clock. That's all she seemed to be doing that day. It was nearly midnight, and Max was still out fixing the jeep. Their mother had gone out on a quick errand and their father was helping Max, hence the reason it was taking so long. Liz and Isabel had just finished watching their second movie. She looked over at Liz, who was intently watching the screen as the credits rolled by.

"Want to do something fun?" Isabel asked her. Liz glanced at her boyfriend's sister. She wasn't as close to Isabel as Maria, but that was because Isabel was mostly guarded. She wasn't used to having friends who knew her secret, friends she could trust, and it had taken Isabel a long time to get used to it, but she was getting there, and Maria and Liz were trying to give her as much room as possible.

"Like, alien fun?" Liz grinned, and Isabel smiled.

"Is there any other kind?"

Sitting in her room, Isabel and Liz pored over the school yearbook, flicking through the pages.

"So you can go into any of these people's dreams? Any of them?" Liz knew Isabel could, but it was amazing all the same.

"As long as they're sleeping." Isabel replied.

"And you can take me with you?" Liz asked.

Isabel nodded, and stopped on a page. "Here." She said, pointing to a picture.

Liz squinted at the photo. "Mason Henley? Really?"

Isabel nodded. "Guys who are up themselves are always the funniest."

Liz shrugged. "Okay, let's go."

Isabel touched Mason's picture, then closed her eyes, holding onto Liz's hand. They laid back on Isabel's bed.

Mason's hand were stuffed into his jacket pockets as he strolled along, kicking the ground with his shoes. Anger shot through him as he nursed his wounded pride.

He came to an alley and stopped, hesitant to go down there. He dismissed the feeling, nothing had happened on the way after all, and walked down between the buildings, his footsteps echoing of the brick walls surrounding him as he stepped through dank, greasy, puddles. There was little light, and he could barely see faint outline of dumpsters and trash cans, but that didn't matter. All he had to do was go straight.

Suddenly other, heavier footsteps joined him in the alley and a baseball bat swung at his face, smashing him to the ground. He could feel kicks and punches to his gut, his arms, his legs, his whole body, before he let the black unconsciousness sweep him away.

Isabel felt herself being pulled in the direction of Mason's dream. She gripped onto Liz with all her mental strength and allowed it to take her. She felt herself go into a deeper and deeper slumber, with Liz's life force right beside her, when she suddenly realised that something was not right. This was not the same as when she went into her mother's dream, or Alex's dream. This was darker, more deadly. Too Late she realised that Mason was not sleeping, he was dying, and she struggled to go back, to fight her way to consciousness, but she couldn't. She let go of Liz, knowing that at least Liz would wake up, even if she never did. Her last thoughts were of her Max, Michael, Liz, Maria, Alex and her parents, before she felt the black swallow her whole and red pain surrounded her.


End file.
